Watch the rare birds whose eggs the man tried to bring in the country
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Video Credit: Rumble
A SAS-trained wildlife hunter dubbed the ‘Pablo Escobar of the egg trade’ has been caught at Heathrow airport with 17 rare eggs worth £100,000.
57-year-old Jeffrey Lendrum was stopped by Border Force officers at Heathrow airport. He had 17 rare hawk, eagle and vulture eggs and two chicks worth £100,000 strapped to his body in a sling hidden beneath a coat.
The man was arrested and now has been jailed for three years.
Judge Neil Sanders told him: “The laws which recognise and the restriction on the trade of protected species are there for good reason, to protect the species in the wild.”
“In this case the chicks had to be hand-reared, making it impossible to return them to their habitat.”
However, he told that he brought the eggs into the country to protect the birds as their natural habitat was being destroyed.
But, Sean Sullivan, prosecuting said: “He was illegally importing rare birds of prey in the UK. He purposefully avoided the permit procedure. He did so not out of any concern for the for their well-being, but for financial gain, that financial gain being significant.”
“There is a stark unlikelihood about the way in which he says he came into possession of the eggs. He said someone involved in cutting their trees handed them to him because they had lost their habitat”, he added.
This is not the first time Lendrum is caught with the rare eggs. In 2010, he was caught trying to board a flight to Dubai with 14 peregrine falcon eggs taped to his stomach. He was then jailed for 30 months.
In 2015, he was again caught in Brazil with four albino falcon eggs that he stole from Patagonia. He again jailed for four-and-a-half-years.
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